Cartersville entered Friday with a 41-game winning streak and had outscored its past nine opponents by a whopping 46.1 points per game. Second halves with running clocks were much more familiar to the Purple Hurricanes than the 14-3 lead that Blessed Trinity opened the second half with. Nonetheless, Cartersville was able to climb its way back and clung to a 17-14 lead with under a minute to play as Blessed Trinity marched into field goal range.
The Titans made it to the Cartersville 26-yard line and felt that they were in position to tie the game with a field goal, but head coach Tim McFarlin saw an opportunity to go for the win instead and he went for it.
“We felt like we could take a shot and still have time to attempt a field goal,” explained McFarlin. “That was the advantage we had.”
Junior Ryan Davis went out wide as the only receiver on the play. Titans quarterback Jake Smith took the snap and immediately rolled right as a pack of purple jerseys closely followed. Davis used a double-move to separate himself from the coverage and hauled in Smith’s deep ball in the back right corner of the end zone for the game-winning touchdown with 12 seconds left to give Blessed Trinity the 21-17 victory.
Blessed Trinity’s 14-3 lead at the half was built with a pair of Steele Chambers rushing touchdowns and Cartersville had to use a school-record 55-yard field goal to get on the board. Cartersville quarterback Trevor Lawrence found E.J. Turner on a 15-yard touchdown pass to bring the Canes within 14-9 in the third quarter and a Marko Dudley 75-yard punt return touchdown gave Cartersville the 17-14 lead.
